‘Oh, don’t worry, you have some. We just haven’t seen them yet,’ Jesse said. ‘But we will. And when we do …’ She showed fang, just for a moment; anybody who happened to catch a glimpse would have doubted their sanity, especially since the teeth disappeared in a flash. ‘When we do, we’ll settle this Morganville style.’

‘What’ll we do about Liz, and Derrick?’ Claire asked. ‘They don’t have anything to do with this, if it’s about me and Professor Anderson and vampires. They’re just caught in the middle.’

‘You know what generally happens to people in the middle, Claire?’ Jesse asked, as she got to her feet. ‘Crossfire.’ She speared me with a long look, and I threw it right back at her. ‘Shane, get her someplace safe. I’m holding you responsible. I have your phone number now, and I’ll be in touch when I have something. Until then, lay low.’

‘What about the police?’ Claire asked. ‘Shouldn’t I call them?’

‘Call them if you like,’ Jesse said, ‘but when you do, they’re going to ask you to explain why you dumped a fresh pizza on the floor inside the house, found blood in your housemate’s room, and didn’t call 911 immediately. They’ll match the store receipt to your route and the time you were seen entering the house. And the first person they’ll detain is you. You had the keys. There was no forced entry. And in the police’s experience, generally the person who lives in the house is the first person to suspect.’

It was all pretty damn logical. Brutally logical. Claire swallowed hard and nodded. ‘No police then.’

‘Smart girl.’

I watched Jesse as she walked away, hood up, hands in her pockets. She didn’t even hurry. Yeah, that was some scary confidence, considering she was essentially vulnerable out here, alone. ‘Sorry,’ I said. Not to Jesse, but to Claire. I was still trying not to look her in the eye. ‘I’d rather talk about all this someplace safer. Can we go?’

‘I’d rather talk about it here,’ she said, ‘because at least if I’m here, I can order coffee, and I probably won’t scream in frustration out loud. Think of it as a public buffer zone.’

Oh, great. I winced, but I asked the question. ‘So, do you feel like screaming? Specifically, at me?’

‘A little bit,’ she said. ‘But God, this doesn’t matter right now, does it? What about Liz? What’s going to happen to her? I mean, even Derrick doesn’t deserve … Jesse didn’t mean it about crossfires, did she?’

‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Claire, this is not a good place to stay. Jesse said to keep you safe, and in my opinion an open table on the sidewalk isn’t exactly the textbook definition of secure …’

‘Do you have an apartment?’

‘I’ve got a room at Florey’s. It’s not spacious. Or clean. But it’s cheap, and the work’s solid. It’ll do until things settle down, if you’re, ah, not too picky.’